Game #1: Kolten Wong snapped the Cards out of their offensive lethargy in a heartbeat when he banged an 0-2 pitch inside the RF pole for his first homer, continuing Trevor Williams' recent struggle with longballs. He struck out two of the next three. The first three Buccos drew walks off Carlos Martinez. Gregory then swung at the first pitch and popped out. A catcher's interference chased home a run (and negated a whiff) before K-Man's sac fly plated another, and the Bucs had a hitless, gift-wrapped 2-1 lead. With two away in the second, a bloop single and Tyler O'Neill dinger off a 3-2 fastball regained the lead for the Redbirds. JR singled with an out but caused no problems. St. Louie opened the third with a single/double/sac fly combo that scored two more Cards to make it 5-2. The Pirates went down in order. The fourth began with a knock and then a throwing error by K-Man; a gentle roller allowed another run across. An error, infield single and walk around a couple of outs loaded the bases for Pittsburgh. Key was clutch and singled a pair home on a looper; the Redbird RF muffed the pick up and a third run crossed.
 |
| Fraze walked three times and scored twice - Topps 2018 Road to Opening Day |
Genesis Cabrera took the hill and ended it at 6-5. Nik Turley took over with an out in the fifth and bopped the first Redbird, then settled down. Gregory singled for starters, and the Bucs added a walk an out later. But Cabrera and then Alex Reyes kept the Pirates off the board. Geoff Hartlieb worked the sixth and walked a pair of Cards with one away but worked out of the jam. Fraze drew a free pass with an out and was left anchored. A leadoff single brought Sam Howard to the hill in the seventh, and he K'ed two-of-three Redbirds. After an out, Ryan Hensley got the ball from Reyes and walked K-Man (Shelty had, of all things, to challenge the count) with two away, then the Cardinals' fourth error kept the Pirates alive. J-Bell pinch hit and walked to load them up for JR Murphy. He flew out to fairly deep left to close the book.
Well, the Cards tried to give the Bucs the game with four errors and eight walks, but some teams need a little more help than others...
Notes:
- Fraze walked three times, Key had a walk & a knock and K-Man drew two free passes. The Pirates had four hits.
- Willy has given up 14 homers on the season, with 11 of those in his past five starts lasting 25-1/3 IP.
_______________________________________________________________________
Game Two: The match will start at 8 and be broadcast by AT&T SportsNet and 93.7 The Fan. The Pirates are the away team for this match, which is a make up from St. Louis,
Lineup: Bryan Reynolds LF, Ke'Bryan Hayes 3B, Colin Moran DH, Josh Bell 1B, Gregory Polanco RF, Erik Gonzalez SS, Kevin Newman 2B, Jake Stallings C, Jason Martin CF and Chad Kuhl P. And yes, all the position players have started today.
 |
| Chad Kuhl - 2018 Topps Heritage |
Pitchers: RHP Chad Kuhl (1-2, 5.50) bumps head with RHP Daniel Ponce de Leon (0-3, 6.23). Chad was slapped around in his last outing; he explained after the game that he was basically a one pitch guy due to a minor finger injury. The contusion had taken him out of an earlier game, so whether that will play into today's appearance will be seen. Before the last implosion, he was coming along nicely, tossing to a 1-1/3.38 line. So knock on wood that he's healed and the Bucs can get their usual five or six solid innings from Cool. Ponce de Leon has struggled, but his last outing against the Brewers was strong - he went six innings, giving up two runs on four hits with a walk and 9 whiffs (He averages 12.5 K/nine innings, so he can miss a bat. He also walks 7 batters per game, so he can miss the plate, too.). He's only faced one Bucco batter this year, so we'll see what he's got tonight.
No comments:
Post a Comment